Two weeks ago, the four senators of the Independent Democratic Conference were in a pressure cooker.

Progressive groups pushing for items that Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo listed on the top of his agenda — public campaign finance and a slate of women's measures including a tweak to state abortion laws — were hitting a roadblock in the state Senate, which is controlled by Republicans in coalition with the IDC.

The IDC senators support both measures, but the terms of their alliance with the GOP give each side the power to block floor votes on a bill. Neither passed. On June 19, a dispute over what bills would be considered ground the chamber to a halt. The day before, more than 20 people were arrested outside IDC Leader Jeff Klein's office, chanting that the IDC stood for "I don't care."

One was Karen Scharff, executive director of Citizen Action. She said the IDC did "not so well" in the session's final days and that things would be better if the IDC hadn't separated from other Democrats in 2011. "Had there been a regular process to bring this to a vote, we would have had a better chance of moving it forward," she said. "But the IDC through this governing coalition gives Republicans a veto over what issues get a real hearing in the Senate."

This is hogwash, said Sen. Diane Savino, an IDC member from Staten Island. There weren't enough votes to pass either measure, she said, noting hostile amendment tallies proved as much.

All four IDC senators voted for a Democrat-offered amendment to implement a system of public campaign finance, but it still failed when two mainstream Democrats — Queens Sen. Malcolm Smith, who is facing a federal indictment, and Bronx Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. — voted no. An amendment to strengthen the state's abortion laws failed when Diaz and Republicans voted against it.

"There will always be people who tell you, 'Well, you didn't get everything you wanted.' Nobody ever does," Savino said. But she pointed to a list of accomplishments that include a minimum wage increase, the passage, over the objections of most of the chamber's Republicans, of tougher gun control measures and new tax credits for veterans.

And her message to advocates like Scharff? "Effective advocacy does not mean attacking your supporters. That just gives strength to your detractors."

So far, the governor has declined to single out the IDC for criticism for inaction on some of his agenda items. He's pushing the Democrat-dominated Assembly to individually act on nine women's bills that sailed through the Senate but that the Assembly considered as part of an omnibus bill that also included the abortion changes.

"If you get everything you want in a legislative session, you probably didn't ask for enough," Cuomo said last week. "The IDC's performance — that's going to be for the IDC to judge and others."

One of the IDC's partners, Deputy Republican Leader Tom Libous, said he was pleased. "Rather than calling it cover, we worked together very effectively. They had their wins, we had our wins," he said, listing the minimum wage in the partners' column.

Democrats, though, are not pleased, and say the IDC's claim that its alliance with Republicans was the best bet for enacting progressive legislation ring hollow. "Didn't the IDC break off because they were going to deliver actual bills?" said Sen. Liz Krueger of Manhattan. "I feel like the session was more dysfunctional than previous. The IDC broke off because they don't like dysfunction, and now we have a new type of dysfunction that didn't lead to progressive, Democratic proposals."